The big lie: How the oil companies are ripping us off

He wasn't trying to explain the oil crisis. He was trying to explain how journalists serve as de facto PR foofs.

 

Yes. How much do you want to bet it gains half that back tomorrow? It's a Friday, the reasons are plentiful.

1.) "People wanted to stockpile futures in case of a terrorist attack over the weekend."
2.) "People are still worried about the mortgage crisis in America and the stock market and dollar are unreliable. Oil futures are the only safe bet in the world."
3.) "A bird shit on an oil field in Nigeria."
4.) "There's no explaining this oil bubble that will never seem to end. Supply and demand has nothing to do with it. It's time we stop guessing when the bubble will burst, because it may not."

Then, of course, when prices fall again next Tuesday, these same morans will say "Hmm, maybe the bubble is bursting."

 

Actually, gas went down from 4.27 to 4.14 by my house today.

 

I would agree with you except that I thought it was going to go back up by about $5 today and it went down $5.

 

It's Thursday. It'll go up a chunk tomorrow.

And I gotta move out your way, b/c the lowest gas has dropped in months is the three cents from $4.18 to $4.15 at BJs last week. I, too, hoped for a dip this week, but not yet.

 

I saw no drop. It's been $4.02 for at least a week.

 

Here? Up a dime and holding.

But it's all about supply and demand and the market and...pardon me while I puke.

 

As far as price... dropped to $3.87 here, but then there's another thread for that.

Don't know if it's true or not -- esp. since I can't remember when I heard it. But I definitely recall someone saying the big worry is that it will be well below $130 by the time they get to the oil and can get it on the market.

(in fact I think $70 is eventually the magic number they said becuase that's how much per barrell it costs to extract oil from coal and shale... wish I can remember what I was reading. Maybe TIME. I read a lot of TIME)

 

Spoken like an oil company's wet dream.

In nirvana because for maybe the second time in the past 50 weeks the price dropped from the previous week, and grateful --- GRATEFUL! --- to be paying "only" $4.14.

 

This is so true.

It'll get down to $2.99 at some point and we'll all be acting like thrilled fucking lemmings. Meanwhile, it'll STILL be more than double what we were paying in 2000.

 

Gas went under four bucks in my hood, to 3.99, and it was a fucking circus. People jockeying for position, arguing and yelling because they had 'dibs' on a certain pump; people had extra cans they were filling. Mind you, I took this all in as I pulled up to get 20 bucks' worth, which at this point only fills the tank halfway.

 

In the past year oil companies have made greater profits trading oil in the futures market than they have selling their oil retail.

Back in the fall as oil future prices skyrocked due to increased speculation from hedge funds. Oil companies realized that they would be better off writing futures contracts to sell oil @ $125 instead of selling it retail at the then $75 per barrel price.

Oil earmarked for futures contracts is not refined into gas. It just sits in storage until time runs out on the futures contract.At expiration buyer of contract either has option to take delivery on oil or roll over into new contract.